Cloud Computing and Governance

Cloud computing is a major technological paradigm shift after the Internet. While Internet provided the high-speed inter-connects across global digital villages, now cloud computing is transforming the way we serve information, knowledge, connections, and business transactions without worrying about building your own data centers. As cloud computing becomes more commonplace in the lives of everyday consumers, government is considering bringing or defining new policies to govern the emerging cloud computing realm. These polices might very well help us to secure economic and technological dominance in the burgeoning realm of cloud computing, or it could fall behind the rest of the world. If government adopts Cloud computing, soon it becomes a strategic infrastructure for the country. That leads to more control on how providers on how they build and operate their Clouds. In my view, defining “just enough governance” and securing the critical infrastructure and providing the trusted access, assertion, audit, peering, and control of the cloud infrastructure is critical to cloud computing success. Do we need ICANN like governing body? Do we need an independent clearing house to help us to verify and audit identities in the Cloud? What do you think?